Plotting 'Family Plot' (2001 Video) User Reviews

Plotting Family Plot.... Documentary

[James_Bond_007_218 · 6/10 · 22 May 2005]

An excellent documentary by Laurent Bouzereau, the man responsible for other great Hitchcock film documentaries. It gives great insight into the making of the film and is highly recommended to any fan of the film or Alfred Hitchcock.

It covers the the beginning of the film with Hitchcock's decision to turn Victor Canning's very dark thriller, The Rainbird Pattern into his latest film, the problems that arose when casting the character of Arthur Adamson and ideas such as the suggested ending by Bruce Dern for Hitchcock's final film.

Overall, this documentary is a great end to the finish of the Hitchcock DVD Collection.

Good arrangement, other than the elephant in the room

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 11 October 2010]

This is the only featurette on the DVD of Family Plot. It is a sort of retro-active making-of and look at the film, and is made up of recent interviews, behind the scenes footage and clips of the movie(at times ironically edited). For some reason, they don't at all address that Harris doesn't appear in this at all. They talk about her from during production, and no ill is spoken of her. I have no idea why she is absent. This is an informational and interesting 48 and a half minutes. Everyone who is in this has something to say, and Dern does a decent imitation of Hitchcock(Black does one, too... hers is... uhm...), we get priceless anecdotes wherein we get more examples of the Master's sardonic and sharp wit, and they talk a little about his other work. They go into why the car sequence is so darn effective(the secret is to *stay in the vehicle*, once inside, no wide shots, only POV from front and reaction shots of the passengers). We even hear about the project that was set to be Alfred's(R.I.P.) next. While there is a bit of the obligatory lovefest, it isn't excessive and they do argue their case. It's cool to hear from John Williams, who clearly has respect for the great director. Well-edited and keeps a nice pace. There is disturbing content in this, and this documentary spoils its subject. I recommend this to any fan. 7/10

Since FAMILY PLOT is no NOTORIOUS . . .

[pixrox1 · 8/10 · 27 October 2013]

. . . it is not too much of a stretch to rate this companion piece 8 out of 10, the same as the feature itself. Though writer\producer\director Laurent Bouzereau has done better on his many supplements to movies directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the exact same thing can be said in regard to the "Master of Suspense" himself and his final feature, FAMILY PLOT. Just as no serious John Wayne fan would try to make a claim that his final picture (THE SHOOTIST) was his best, no proponent of Hitch would attempt to argue that he "saved his best for last," and I do not hear the talking heads on PLOTTING FAMILY PLOT, including the director's daughter Patricia, as well as production honchos Howard Kazanjian and Hilton Green, not to mention cast members Bruce Dern (George), William Devane (Eddie), and Barbara Harris (Blanche), say any such thing here. Running more than 48 minutes, this bonus feature is more than long enough to cover key points regarding a lesser Hitchcock comedy than, say, THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.